Accompanied by an intriguing press release, the debut EP from the artist now known as Washington Green is a mixed bag. A former member of various Irish rock bands (who knows which ones though), his press release claims that he was on the receiving end of a one star review from the Irish Times. Well, fortunately for my ears, the Daedalus EP is a little better than that.

It’s an electronic, synth-led album, nothing like 90s or 00s rock, and contains four songs of varying tempo (and quality). Opener ‘Telemachus’ (yes, the songs are named after the chapters in Ulysses – the press release made that claim too) is a simple sub-one-minute ditty and nothing at all like the other three tunes. It’s a simple bleep and bop song which doesn’t really go anywhere other than to ease the listener in before the more rhythmic ‘Nestor’. ‘Nestor’ is probably the best track on here, beginning with drums and bass before teasing a synth melody line, before returning to it a few bars later. The tune still feels a bit lacking, as do all the songs here, and need something else to really sparkle.

Daedalus is a simple debut, and maybe Green is just getting used to his new instrument. Perhaps he needs to hone his skills more. The unsettling ‘Proteus’, led by a head-ache inducing riff is the EP’s weak point, and was definitely a misstep. Here there seems to be too much going on, and melody is forsaken at the expense of experiment. Closer ‘Calypso’ has a breathy vocal underpinning it all, although it’s not vocals per se, as it’s neither singing nor very audible. It’s also a simple track, with a repetitive keyboard riff and minimal rhythm effects.

Overall, this EP isn’t all that bad. There are glimpses of what could be the foundation of good songs, and perhaps Green needs to go off and revise Synth 101 before returning to make something a little more consistent, and more melodic.